Recording and reproducing apparatus provided in each data block with a secret information number

ABSTRACT

An optical card apparatus including a recording device for recording in each of a plurality of data blocks in a card-like recording medium user data to be recorded along with data protecting information inhibiting the user data from being carelessly read out, and a reproducing device for reproducing the user data and data protecting information recorded in the recording medium. A data transfer controlling device for permitting the user data to be read out only in case the input secret information data coincide with the data protecting information recorded in the recording medium in the case of reproducing the user data with this reproducing device.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention and Related Art Statement

This invention relates to a recording and reproducing apparatus providedin each data block such as a sector with a secret information number asa data protecting means for inhibiting information recorded in suchoptical recording medium as an optical card from being read out.

Among information recording and reproducing apparatus for recordingand/or reproducing information in an information recording medium aresuch magnetic recording medium as a floppy disc or magnetic card andsuch optical recording medium as an optical disc or optical card.Optical discs and optical cards are optical recording media. They cannot be re-written but are so large in the memorizing capacity as to beconsidered to have a wide application range for the optical discs torecord image information or to preserve writings and for the opticalcards as bank deposit pass-books, portable maps or prepaid cards usedfor shopping or the like.

Particularly, the optical card is so portable as to be considered to beused to record such personal private information as individual healthcontrolling information. Therefore, countermeasures of protectinginformation peculiar to an individual from being seen by others arebeing investigated by encoding the information. In the publications ofJapanese Patent Applications Laid Open Nos. 286176/1989 and 192978/1988is disclosed a method wherein data other than the inherent informationare recorded as additional information in a part within a sector of anoptical card or photomagnetic disc.

In the publication of Japanese Patent Application Laid Open No.192978/1988, additional information is added to each data block so thaterrors may be corrected in the line direction and column direction toimprove the error correcting function.

Also, in the publication of Japanese Patent Application Laid Open No.286176/1989, a track number is added to each sector and an errorcorrecting code is added to the sector number in recording them so thatthe track number and sector number may be read out at a probabilityhigher than in ordinary data.

In the method wherein the information to be kept secret relating to anindividual is encoded and recorded so as to be decoded when it is to bereproduced, there are problems that such hard formation as a logicalcircuit of encoding/decoding the information will be required and thecost will be high. In case it is not of a hard formation, a softformation will be made by the program by using a microcomputer or thelike controlling the recording and reproducing apparatus, the processwill take time and the access time will be likely to increase.

In the publications of Japanese Patent Applications Laid Open Nos.286176/1989 and 192978/1988, the example of recording the track number,sector number and disc discriminating information is only disclosed butnothing is mentioned of the protection of the information.

By the way, in the now extensively prevalent cash card, a secretinformation number is input in using the card. Such secret informationnumber is not to protect the information mentioned in the card but is toidentify whether the person using the card is the owner of the card sothat only the owner of the card may have access to the card. Therefore,when even a third person can input the secret information number, hewill be able to unjustly have access to the card and will be likely tocause a great damage to the owner of the card.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus forrecording and reproducing such optical recording medium as an opticalcard which can secure the protection of such information desired to bekept secret as individual information without increasing the cost andaccess time.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus forrecording and reproducing such an optical recording medium which cansecure the protection of such information desired to be kept secret asindividual information with a simple formation.

An optical card recording and reproducing apparatus according to thepresent invention comprises a recording means for recording user data tobe recorded in an optical card used as a recording medium and secretinformation data for inhibiting said user data from being carelesslyread out, a reproducing means reproducing said user data and secretinformation data recorded in said recording medium by said recordingmeans and a data reading out/displaying/transferring controlling meanspermitting said recorded user data to be read out/displayed/transferredonly in case the secret information data reproduced from said recordingmedium by said reproducing means corresponds to the secret informationdata input when reproduced so that the user data may be positivelyprotected by a simple formation without increasing the cost and accesstime.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1 to 8 relate to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a conceptional formation diagram of the first embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view of an optical card used in the firstembodiment.

FIG. 3 is a general formation diagram of an optical card recording andreproducing apparatus.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing as magnified a part of tracks ofan optical card.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing as magnified one sector of FIG. 3.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the formation of a main part of thefirst embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing the operation contents at the time ofrecording in the first embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing the operation contents at the time ofreproduction in the first embodiment.

FIGS. 9a,9b and 10a,10b are explanatory views showing data formatsrecorded in tracks of a modification of the first embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing the formation of a part of the secondembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a conceptional formation diagram of the third embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing a schematic formation of the thirdembodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention shall be concretely explained in the followingwith reference to the drawings.

The scheme of the first embodiment of the present invention is shown inFIG. 1. In recording, a host computer 1 transmits user data and the userdata protecting information protecting the user data, which inhibits thereading of the user data, to a recording means 2. This recording means 2records the above mentioned user data and data protecting information ina recording medium 3. The user data and data protecting informationrecorded in this recording medium 3 are reproduced by a reproducingmeans 4. The reproduced user data and reproduced data protectinginformation are transferred to a data transfer controlling means 5. Thisdata transfer controlling means 5 judges whether the above mentionedreproduced data protecting information corresponds to input data protectinformation which is input whenever the above mentioned data protectinginformation is reproduced, will transfer the reproduced user data to thehost computer 1 in case the above mentioned reproduced data protectinginformation is judged to correspond to the input data protectinginformation but will inhibit transferring them to the host computer andwill protect the user data from being read out in case the abovementioned reproduced data protecting information is not judged tocorrespond to the input data protecting information.

The first embodiment shall be concretely explained in the following withreference to FIG. 2 and the others following it.

FIG. 2 shows an optical card 11 to be used in the first embodiment. Theoptical card 11 is provided in both end parts of an optical recordingpart 13 having a plurality of tracks 12 parallel with each other with IDparts 14a and 14b recording track information corresponding to therespective tracks and has a data part 15 between these ID parts 14a and14b. The ID parts 14a and 14b are prerecorded in advance in making theoptical card 11. FIG. 3 shows the general formation of an optical cardrecording/reproducing apparatus.

As shown in FIG. 3, in an optical card recording/reproducing apparatus16 of the first embodiment, such optical card 11 as is shown, forexample, in FIG. 2 can be fitted to a shuttle 19 provided in apredetermined position on a conveyer belt 18 hung between pulleys 17aand 17b. This conveyer belt 18 is moved by a motor 31 forming an opticalcard conveying means. This motor 31 is fed with a driving signal by amotor servo circuit 32 and can rotate and drive a pulley 17a fitted to arotary shaft of this motor 31 clockwise and counter-clockwise by thisdriving signal.

By the rotation of this pulley 17a, the optical card 11 is reciprocatedand conveyed in a direction (track direction) T parallel with thetracks. An optical head 33 is arranged opposite this optical card 11 andis moved in a direction (which is vertical to the paper surface in FIG.3 and is mentioned also as a track crossing direction) crossing thetracks by a motor 34 as a head moving means.

By the way, in this embodiment, the optical card 11 is moved in thetrack direction T but it is apparent that, instead of it, the opticalhead 33 may be moved in the track direction T and the optical card 11may be moved in the track crossing direction.

To the above mentioned motor 31 is connected a rotary encoder 35 fordetecting the relative position of the shuttle 19 in the track directionT with respect to the optical head 33 of the shuttle 19 so that onepulse of this rotary encoder 35 may correspond, for example, to arelative displacement of 50 μm of the shuttle 19 with respect to theoptical head 33 of the shuttle 19. The above mentioned motor servocircuit 32 is connected to the motor 31, rotary encoder 35 and acontroller 36 and a controlling instruction prepared in response to suchposition information as the pulse signal output from the above mentionedrotary encoder 35 is transmitted to the motor servo circuit 32 from thecontroller 36 to control the motor 31 in order that the conveying speedmay be a fixed speed between the ID parts 14a and 14b in FIG. 2 of theoptical card 11.

A rotary encoder 37 for detecting the position in the track crossingdirection of the optical card 11 is connected to the motor 34 moving theabove mentioned optical head 33 the same as to the motor 31. One pulseof this rotary encoder 37 corresponds to the relative displacement, forexample, of 50 μm in the direction intersecting at right angles with thetracks of the optical head 33 with respect to the optical card 11.

Also, the above mentioned motor 34 and rotary encoder 37 are connectedto the controller 36 through an optical head driving circuit 38. Acontrolling instruction prepared on the basis of the positioninformation or the like from the above mentioned rotary encoder 37 istransmitted to the optical head driving circuit 38 from the controller36 so that, as a result, the rotation of the motor 34 may be controlledand the optical head 33 may be set near the position opposed to theobjective track.

That is to say, by moving the optical head 33 in the track crossingdirection under the control by the controller 36, access to any track(strictly speaking, rough access, that is, access near to the objectivetrack) can be set.

For example, in the case of recording or reproduction with access to anobjective track different from the present track from which the opticalhead 33 is reading out data, the controller 36 will calculate thedistance of the movement from the track difference between the presenttrack and the objective track, that is, from the number of tracks to becrossed and will drive the motor 34 through the optical head drivingcircuit 38 to move for this distance.

The controller 36 counts the pulses output from the rotary encoder 37.When the number of pulses corresponding to the above mentioned distanceis detected, the motor 34 will be stopped and, as a result, the opticalhead 33 will stop.

After this rough access, the controller 36 sets the optical head 33 inthe tracking state, relative to the optical card 11 is moved, the trackaddress information of the ID part 14a or 14b is read out, it is judgedwhether this read track address information coincides with the trackaddress information of the objective track or not and, in case it isjudged to coincide, it will be recognized to have access to theobjective track but, in case it does not coincide, the controller 36will control the optical head 33 or objective lens 33d to be moved inthe track crossing direction again toward the objective track and, whenthis operation is repeated, access to the objective track will be ableto be made anyhow.

The optical system of the above mentioned optical head 33 is here of aformation corresponding to a focus error signal detecting method called"an axis deviating method" wherein a light beam radiated from a laserdiode 33a connected to the controller 36 through a laser driving circuit30 outputting a laser driving signal is made parallel beams by acollimating lens 33b and the parallel beams are divided into a 0'thdimension beam and two positive and negative 1'th order beams totalingthree beams by a diffraction grating 33. The divided three beams areincident with the center of the beams upon a position displaced from theoptical axis C of the objective lens 33d.

The three beams condensed by the objective lens 33d form three minutebeam spots on the signal recording surface of the optical card 11. Twopositive and negative primary (±1'th order) sub-beam spots are radiatedto be along the lengthwise direction of the track 12 while slightlycrossing the guide tracks 25 and 26 provided respectively on both sidesurface parts of the track 12. The central main non-diffracted (0'thorder) beam spot scans the central part of the track 12 and is used forrecording or reproduction.

The reflected beams from the optical card 11 again pass through theobjective lens 33d, have the direction changed by 90 degrees by a mirror33e and are made to form an image on a photodetector 33g by an imageforming lens 33f.

The above mentioned photodetector 33g is formed of a plurality ofdetectors and comprises a focus error signal detecting device (anaddition output is used to reproduce a recorded signal) consisting of alight receiving device divided into two parts in the center and trackingerror signal detecting photodetecting devices provided on both sides ofit.

The output of the added sum of the outputs of the light receiving devicedivided into two parts on the central side of the above mentionedphotodetector 33g is fed to a demodulating circuit 26 by which a readingsignal is produced. Also, the output of the focus error signal detectingdevice and tracking error signal detecting photodetecting device of theabove mentioned photodetector 33g is fed also to a focus & track servocircuit 27.

A focus error signal and tracking error signal are produced by suchprocess as a subtraction from the outputs of the photodetector 33g bythis focus & track servo circuit 27. These signals are further processedto be compensated in the phase and amplified so as to be a focus drivingsignal FD and tracking driving signal TD which are then applied to alens actuator 33h driving the objective lens 33d and the objective lens33d is driven in the focus and tracking direction through this lensactuator 33h so that the spot formed on the track of the optical card 11may be always in focus and may follow the track.

By the way, the tracking driving signal TD is applied to the lensactuator 33h through a switch SW which is controlled to be on/off by thecontroller 36 and is be on in a tracking servo state but is off in suchcase as in the access operation of moving the optical head 33 in thetrack crossing direction.

At the time of reproducing data, the controller 36 will control thelaser driving circuit 39 to output a low output reading light beam fromthe laser diode 33a and will control the drive of the motor servocircuit 32, optical head driving circuit 38, focus & track servo circuit27 and demodulating circuit 26.

At the time of recording data, the controller 36 will end the control ofthe access to the objective track on which the recording is made in theoptical card 11 the same as at the time of reproducing and then willcontrol the laser driving circuit 39 to output a high output recordinglight beam from the laser diode 33a. Therefore, by the modulated datamodulated by the modulating circuit 28 on the basis of the data afterthe data to be recorded are processed to be encoded by an EDAC (ErrorDetection and Correction) circuit 41 (See FIG. 6), a high outputpulse-like driving current and low output pulse-like driving current arefed to the laser diode 33a.

In this case, when the high output pulse-like driving current is fed tothe laser diode 33a, this laser diode 33a will produce a high outputlight beam and a pit will be formed in the track part on which this highoutput light beam is radiated. That is to say, user data will berecorded in the data part 15.

FIG. 4 shows as magnified the track 12 in FIG. 2 and shows an example ofa format in the case of a formation of three sectors within one trackand that additional information including secret infomation is recordedin each sector which is a data block. The same number as in FIG. 2represents a component of the same function. 21-1, 21-2 and 21-3represent sectors dividing the track 12 into a plurality of recordingregions. 22-1 represents a gap between the sectors 21-1 and 21-2. 22-2represents a gap between the sectors 21-2 and 21-3. 23 represents a gapbetween the ID part 14a and the sector 21-1. 24 represents a gap betweenthe ID part 14b and the sector 21-3. 25 and 26 represent track guidesfor tracking. The gaps 23 and 24 are provided to absorb the speedfluctuation in the case of driving the optical card 11 at a fixed speed.

FIG. 5 shows the formation of user data recorded in each sector.Additional data 21-0, including secret information, are to be recordedin the top part of each sector. In this example, the formation of thedata in one sector consists of the total of 264 bytes of the number ofadded data of 8 bytes including the secret information with the numberof data of 256 bytes, the C2 codes made the (16, 12) RS codes by addingthe error correcting Reed Solomon Codes (RS codes hereinafter) so as tobe product codes and the C1 codes made the (26, 22) RS codes. At thetime of recording in the optical card, the thus encoded data blocks willbe successively read out of each byte in the line direction, will beconverted to serial data and will be recorded within one sector. In theformation of the additional information data, the secret informationnumber is of 4 bytes and the error correcting C3 code is of RS codes of(8,4).

FIG. 6 shows the peripheral part of the controller 36 controlling theoperation of reading/writing data from the optical card 11 within anoptical card reading/writing apparatus. The output of the photodetector(PD) 33g within the optical head 33 arranged opposite the optical card11 is input into the demodulating circuit 26, is demodulated in the byteunit as data before the error correction and is stored in a first buffer43 temporarily storing data through a first Direct Memory Access, orDMA, circuit 42.

By this first DMA circuit 42, at the time of reading out (reproduction),the demodulated data will be transferred to the first buffer 43 withoutpassing through a CPU 44 controlling the entire operation of thiscontroller 36 and, at the time of writing (recording), the data storedin the first buffer 43 will be transferred to the modulating circuit 28.By this modulating Circuit 28, at the time of recording, the datatransferred through the first DMA circuit 42 will be converted to serialwritten data and a modulating operation of making the laser diode 33awithin the optical head 33 emit light in response to the written datawill be made.

By the above mentioned first buffer 43, at the time of reading, thedemodulated data transferred through the first DMA circuit 42 will betransferred to the EDAC circuit 41 which will detect and correct errorsof the transferred data and, at the time of writing, by the EDAC circuit41, the data (transmitted from the later described host computer 40) towhich the error correcting codes are added will be transferred to thefirst DMA circuit 42 and the transferred data are transferred to themodulating circuit 28.

The data having had the errors corrected by the above mentioned EDACcircuit 41 are stored in the second buffer 46 and CPU 44 decides thepermission or inhibition of transmission of the data stored in thesecond buffer 46 to host computer 40 through a second DMA circuit 47. Atthe time of reading out, it will be judged by the CPU 44 whether thedata in the secret information area within the area stored in the secondbuffer 46 are data to be protected or not. In the case of data requiringno protection, the DMA function of the second DMA circuit 47 will bepermitted. In the case of data requiring protection, at the time ofreading, it will be judged whether the data coincide with the secretinformation data input by the key inputting means 29. Only in case theycoincide, the DMA operation of the second DMA circuit 47 will bepermitted. In case they do not coincide, the DMA operation will beinhibited.

Therefore, in case the DMA operation is permitted, the data will betransferred to the host computer 40 by the second DMA circuit 47. Whenthese data are transferred, the host computer 40 will display data readout, for example, by the displaying means 30. On the other hand, in casethe transfer by the second DMA circuit 47 is inhibited, the data willnot be transferred to the host computer 40 side. In this case, the hostcomputer 40 will display, for example, in the displaying means that thedata reading is erroneous or that the input secret information is wrongso as to prevent the data to be kept secret from being carelessly readout.

By the CPU 44, the secret information data transferred through thesecond DMA circuit 47 from the host computer 40 (input by the keyinputting means 29) are memorized in the memory 44a within this CPU 44and it is thereby judged whether the secret information data coincidewith the data (that is, the secret information number data) within thesecret information area of the second buffer 46.

At the time of recording, the secret information data input by the keyinputting means 29 will be once stored within this memory 44a and thenwill be stored in the position of the secret information area providedin advance within the second buffer 46 against the inherent data storedin the second buffer 46 through the second DMA circuit 47 from the hostcomputer 40 and then the error correcting code will be added by the EDACcircuit 41.

The data to which this error correcting code has been added will bestored in the first buffer 43, the laser diode 33a will be controlled inthe light emission through the first DMA circuit 42 and modulatingcircuit 28, the optical card 11 will be recorded with the secretinformation number attached and then the secret information number willbe recorded, for example, in the top position of each sector.

As the above mentioned EDAC circuit 41 is encoded so as to doublycorrect errors for the secret information number, even the secretinformation number alone is high in the reliability.

The operation of recording the secret information number added to thesector in the optical card 11 shall be explained in the following withreference to FIG. 7. When this recording operation starts, the secretinformation number will be key-input by the key-inputting means 29 inresponse to whether the data to be recorded are to be kept secret or not(step S1). That is to say, in case the data are to be prevented frombeing read out, for example, the secret information number provided inresponse to the optical card 11 in which these data are recorded will beinput but, in case they are not, a key making the corresponding processwill be selected or merely the return key will be pushed not to inputthe secret information number.

Then, the host computer 40 will judge whether there is an effectivekey-input or not (step S2). In case there is an effective key-input, asshown in step S3a, by a secret information setting command from thishost computer 40, the secret information number will be set in thememory 44a as a secret information number storing means within the CPU44. In case an effective key-input is not made, as shown in step S3b, bythe setting command from the host computer 40, for example, FFFFFFFFHrepresenting data not required to be kept secret (further, data of thesame number of bytes as of the secret information number) will be set (Hrepresents 16 progresses).

That is to say, in the case of no secret information number,predetermined data FFFFFFFFH of 4 bytes will be made. On the other hand,in the case of a secret information number, the other data of the same 4bytes than FFFFFFFFH will be made.

When the setting of the data by the above mentioned step S3a or S3bends, a command of recording next and data, for example, for one sectorwill be transferred to this controller 36 from the host computer 40 anddata for one sector will be transferred to the second buffer 46 throughthe second DMA circuit 47 (step S4).

Then, by the CPU 44, the secret information number (FFFFFFFFH in thecase of no effective secret information number) of 4 bytes received bythe secret information command is transferred to the secret informationarea within the second buffer 46 (step S5). Then, the EDAC circuit 41 isstarted, an error correcting code is generated for the data (that is,the ordinary data to be recorded in the optical card 11 and the secretinformation number or non-secret information number representing whetherthe data should be protected or not) within the second buffer 46 and theresult is stored within the first buffer 43 (step S6). In the case ofstoring the data in this first buffer 43, the entire data may beinterleft (the arrangement of the recorded data is different from thecase that such additional data as the secret information number arewritten into the top part of one sector as shown in FIG. 4).

Then, the optical head 33 is made to seek the track to be recorded (stepS7). The data within the first buffer 43 are transferred to themodulating circuit 28 through the first DMA circuit 42. The datatransmitted from this buffer 43 are modulated to data to be recorded onthe optical card 11 by this modulating circuit 28, the light emission ofthe laser diode 33a is controlled and the data are recorded on theoptical card (step S8). By repeatedly recording these data in eachsector, the data are recorded as in FIG. 4 and the recording operationends. In fact, after this recording, these data are reproduced and anoperation of verifying whether the data recorded on the optical card 11coincide with the data restored by the reproduction is often made.

The reproducing operation of reading out the data recorded on theoptical card 11 by such recording operation as is mentioned above shallbe explained in the following with reference to FIG. 8.

The same as in the recording operation, first the secret informationnumber is key-input by the key-inputting means 29 (step S11). By thiskey-input, the secret information number of 4 bytes sets in the memory44a within the CPU 44 the secret information number input by the settingcommand from the host computer 40 (step S12). In order to read out thedata, this secret information number must be the same as is set at thetime of recording.

Then, by the CPU 44, the reading command from the host computer 40 isreceived and the optical head 33 is made to seek the objective track tobe read out (step S13). The data read out of the optical card anddetected by the photodetector 33g are demodulated by the demodulatingcircuit 26 and are stored in the first buffer 43 by the operation of theDMA circuit 42 (step S14). Then the data within the first buffer 43 haveerrors detected and corrected by the operation of the EDAC circuit 41and the results are stored in the second buffer 46 (step S15). (In casethe data are interleft at the time of the recording operation, they willbe de-interleft here.) As a result, the data having had errors correctedand the secret information number are stored in the second buffer 46.

Then, by the CPU 44, the secret information number within the secretinformation area within the second buffer 46 is read out and it isjudged whether this secret information is data not required to beprotected.

That is to say, the CPU 44 judges whether this secret information numberis FFFFFFFFH or not (step S16). If it is judged to be data not requiredto be protected, in the next step S17, the inherent data except thesecret information number will be transferred to the host computer 40(which will display the transferred data, for example, in the displayingmeans 30).

On the other hand, in case the judgment in the above mentioned step S16is negative, it will be judged whether the secret information number isthe same as the secret information data set in advance by the secretinformation setting command or not (step S18). In case it is judged thatthe data within the secret information area do not coincide with thesecret information data set by the secret information set by the secretinformation setting command, the CPU 44 will report the data readingerrors to the host computer 40 (step S19) and will be displayed asreading errors, for example, in the displaying means 30 to secure theprotection of reading out the data.

On the other hand, in case it is judged in the above mentioned step S18that the data within the secret information area coincide with thesecret information data (set by the secret information setting commandand) actually used for this optical card 11, the secret informationnumber will be considered to be known and therefore the data will betransferred to the host computer 40 as shown in the step S17.

Thus, in case another person not knowing the secret information numbertries to read out the data required to be protected, a maximum of 2³²trials will be required and it will be well-nigh impossible to read outthe data by breaking the protection. Also, the data can be protectedwith a simple formation. Further, the data can be recorded or reproducedwithin a time shorter than in the case of protecting the data byencoding the data themselves (the processing time can be made shorter).

Here, the secret information is made data of 4 bytes but the errorcorrecting code part to be added to the secret information may beincluded in the secret information to be 8 bytes long so that thesecurity may be further elevated.

By the way, the secret information number may be set to be different ineach optical card or one secret information number may be allotted toone user. Also, a track number or sector number may be included as asecret information number in one optical card or a different secretinformation number may be made for each track or sector (a part of thesecret information data of 4 bytes may be allotted to a track number orsector number).

FIG. 9 shows a track in a modification of the first embodiment. In casethe light beam scans in the direction from the left to the right as inFIG. 9a, after the ID part 14a, the additional information 21-0 will berecorded in the top part of the first read sector 21-1 but will not berecorded in the other sectors 21-2 and 21-3. In case the light beamscans in the direction from the right to the left as shown in FIG. 9b,after the ID part 14b, the additional information 21-0 will be recordedin the top part of the first read sector 21-3 but will not be recordedin the other sectors 21-2 and 21-1. That is to say, in the firstembodiment, the additional information is recorded in each sector but,in this modification, the additional information is recorded in eachtrack. Also, in case the reproduction is possible from either of theright and left, the additional information may be recorded only in thesectors (21-1, 21-3) at both ends.

As another modification, the additional information may be recorded atintervals of a plurality of tracks. Also, the additional informationdifferent in each track number or sector number may be recorded in eachfile of the recorded information. FIG. 10a shows that a differentadditional information is recorded in each file of the information to berecorded. That is to say, the additional information al is recorded ineach of the sectors 21-1 to 21-4 recording the information of a filename of f1 and the additional information a2 is recorded in each of thesectors 21-5 to 21-7 recording the information of another file name off2. By the way, as the track 12b adjacent to the track 12a is recordedor reproduced from the reverse direction, contrary to the case of thetrack 12a, the additional information is recorded on the ID part 14bside.

FIG. 10b shows that a different additional information ai is recorded ineach sector 21-i (i=1, 2, . . .). The different additional informationai in each sector 21-i is determined, for example, by adding an errorcorrecting code C3 to the operation result determined by an operationrule (carried out, for example, by the CPU 44) set in advance by usingthe track number and sector number in which the data are to be recordedfor one secret information number. Thus, the secrecy can be improved tobe higher than in the case of adding the same additional information.Also, the recording user may select or set such operation rule that onesecret information number as an initial value may become a differentsecret information number in each sector.

The second embodiment of the present invention shall be explained in thefollowing.

In the first embodiment, in case the secret information number andoperation result do not coincide with each other, the retrial will beable to be easily made by changing the secret information number or thecooperation result and therefore it will not be able to be said to beunlikely that the input key number will happen to coincide and thesecurity will become null.

In the second embodiment is shown an example that the retrial can not beeasily made.

The following two operating modes are prepared for the optical cardrecording and reproducing apparatus. First of all, for the first mode isprepared a mode of using no secret information number at the time ofreading out data. In this mode, the command of setting the secretinformation number explained in the first embodiment can not be used (ismade an illegal command) and, only when the secret information number isFFFFFFFFH, the data will be transferred to the host computer 40.Therefore, in case the secret information number is not FFFFFFFFH, solong as the data are in this mode, they will not be read out forever.

The second mode shall be a mode of using a secret information number atthe time of reading out data. In this second mode, such treatment as isdescribed in the first embodiment is made to protect the read data. Inthis mode, the secret information number setting command is effective.In this embodiment, when the mode setting command is input, the secondmode will be set. When the mode setting command is not input, the firstmode will be set.

That is to say, when the optical card 11 is fitted to make a reproducingoperation, for example, a mode setting command from the key-inputtingmeans 29 or data corresponding to it will be key-input into the hostcomputer 40 and, by a controlling command judging whether this key-inputcorresponds to the mode setting command or not and determining thereproducing operation mode of the recording and reproducing apparatus,the setting of the two modes will be determined.

In case the key-input from the key-inputting means 29 is judged tocorrespond to the mode setting command, the controlling commandtransmitted to the CPU 44 from the host computer 40 will set the secondmode. In case it is not judged to correspond to the mode settingcommand, the controlling command will set the first mode. Once in eithermode, the operation will not be able to shift to any other mode untilthe power source of the apparatus is switched off.

By such formation, the keys of access to the user will be the two of thecommand determining the operating mode of the apparatus and the secretinformation number of the first embodiment so that a security higherthan in the first embodiment may be secured.

A part of this second embodiment is shown in FIG. 11. The key-input datainput from the key-inputting means 29 are input into the judging means40a within the host computer 40 and are judged as to whether theycoincide with the mode setting command stored in advance in the memory40 as a mode setting command storing means. In case they are judged tocoincide, a controlling command to operate in the second mode will betransmitted to the controller 36 (CPU 44) side. In case they are notjudged to coincide, a controlling command to operate in the first modewill be transmitted to the controller 36 side.

By the way, in case the timer 48 is started as shown by the dotted linesin FIG. 11 from the key-input (judged by the host computer 40) startingthe reproducing operation and the key-input corresponding to the correctmode setting command is not made within a fixed time, the operation maybe forcibly made in the first mode.

The third embodiment of the present invention shall be explained in thefollowing. FIG. 12 shows the schematic formation of the optical cardrecording and reproducing apparatus of the third embodiment of thepresent invention. This recording and reproducing apparatus is of astanding alone type. That is to say, without the host computer 1 in FIG.1, the data and data protecting information are transferred to therecording means 2 from the controller 52. The data transmissioncontrolling means 5 controls whether the data are to be displayed in thedisplaying means 53 or not. The other formations are the same as in FIG.1, shall bear the same reference numerals and shall not be explainedhere.

Now, the concrete formation shall be shown by using FIG. 13. Thisrecording and reproducing apparatus 51 does not have the host computer40 in the apparatus shown in FIG. 6. The second buffer 46 can transferdata with the CPU 44. Also, in this embodiment, the key-inputting means29 and displaying means 30 are connected with the CPU 44 so that thesecret information number input from the key-inputting means 29 may bememorized in the memory 44a' inside or outside the CPU 44 and may bejudged as to whether it coincides with the secret information numberwithin the secret information area of the second buffer 46 when read outof the optical card by the reproduction and the CPU may control whetherit is to be displayed in the displaying means 30 according to the resultof judgement.

That is to say, in the first embodiment, whether the data are to betransferred to the host computer 40 side or not is controlled inresponse to whether the secret information number input at the time ofthe reproduction coincides with the secret information data within thesecret information area or not but, in this third embodiment, whetherthe data are to be displayed in the displaying means 30 or not iscontrolled and, only in case the input secret information numbercoincides with the secret information data, the data will be displayedin the displaying means 30 but otherwise the displaying will beinhibited to secure the protection of the data (in case the data areprotected). The other formations are the same as are shown in FIG. 5 andthe same components shall bear the same reference numerals and shall notbe explained here.

The operation and effects of this third embodiment are substantially thesame as of the first embodiment.

By the way, in case such data outputting means as a printer is providedtogether with the above mentioned displaying means 30, when thedisplaying in the displaying means 30 is inhibited, the data transfer tothe data outputting means will be simultaneously inhibited.

By the way, for example, one secret information number is set in commonwith one optical card, such fixed operation as an addition, subtraction,multiplication or division is made with the track or sector number inwhich data are actually recorded together with the secret informationnumber for the secret information number input at the time of recordingand the secret information data (for example, only of the 4 bytes) ofthe operation result may be recorded actually by interleaves or the liketogether with the inherent data. In this case, a reverse operation willbe made at the time of the reproduction and, in case the same secretinformation number as at the time of the recording is input, the samecountermeasures will be able to be taken.

Thus, even if the inherent data part is tried to be read out of thisoptical card by using a general reproducing apparatus of a formation (orfunction) different from of the apparatus of the first embodiment,unless the operation rule is known, it will not be able to be read outand the secrecy will be able to be secured.

By the way, the secret information number to be recorded in therecording medium may be made, for example, without attaching the errorcorrecting code, this secret information number may be read out within afixed gate period at the time of the reproduction, it may be judged by apattern or the like whether this secret information number coincideswith the secret information number input at the time of the reproductionor not and, for example, the operation of reading out the datareproduced thereafter may be stopped or inhibited in response to thejudged result.

By the way, an optical card has been explained in the above descriptionbut the present invention can be applied also to other recording mediathan the optical card. Also, a different embodiment can be formed bypartly combining the above described respective embodiments.

As described above, according to the present invention, the data to berecorded in the recording medium and the additional data including thesecret information data inhibiting the data from being carelessly readout are recorded so that, at the time of the reproduction, only in casethe input secret information data coincide with or correspond to therecorded secret information data, the data will be permitted to be readout and therefore the protection of the data can be secured with asimple formation.

What is claimed is:
 1. An optical card recording and reproducingapparatus comprising:a card-like recording medium having a plurality oflinear tracks on which are formed respectively an ID part in whichdiscriminating information is recorded and a part which is discriminatedby said discriminating information and in which user information isrecorded/reproduced; a recording means for recording protectinginformation including a secret information data for inhibiting thereproduction of said user information except said protecting informationrecorded in each of a plurality of data sectors dividing the data partof the linear tracks of said card-like recording medium; a reproducingmeans for reproducing said user information recorded in said card-likerecording medium and said protecting information; a secret informationdata inputting means for inputting said secret information data; ajudging means for judging whether or not the secret information datainput by said secret information data inputting means and the secretinformation data reproduced by said reproducing means coincide with eachother; and an inhibiting means inhibiting the function of eitherdisplaying or transferring the reproduced user information reproduced bysaid reproducing means in case said judging means does not judge thatthe input secret information data and the reproduced secret informationdata coincide with each other.
 2. An optical card recording andreproducing apparatus according to claim 1 wherein, in the case ofrecording said information in said card-like recording medium, saidrecording means records said protecting information including saidsecret information data input from said secret information datainputting means into said data sector in which said user information isrecorded.
 3. An optical card recording and reproducing apparatusaccording to claim 2 wherein said recording means records saidprotecting information in the top part of said data sector.
 4. Anoptical card recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 1wherein, in the case of reproducing said user information recorded insaid card-like recording medium said judging means judges whether or notthe secret information data input from said secret information datainputting means and the secret information data reproduced by saidreproducing means coincide with each other.
 5. An optical card recordingand reproducing apparatus according to claim 1 further comprising a hostcomputer controlling the operation of said recording and reproducingapparatus and wherein, in case said judging means does not judge thatthe input secret information data and the reproduced secret informationdata coincide with each other, said inhibiting means will inhibit thefunction of transferring the user information reproduced by saidreproducing means to said host computer.
 6. An optical card recordingand reproducing apparatus according to claim 1 further comprising adisplaying means for displaying the user information reproduced by saidreproducing means.
 7. An optical card recording and reproducingapparatus according to claim 6 wherein, in case said judging means doesnot judge that the input secret information data and the reproducedsecret information data coincide with each other, said inhibiting meanswill inhibit the function of said displaying means displaying the userinformation reproduced by said reproducing means.
 8. An optical cardrecording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 6 wherein, incase said judging means does not judge that the input secret informationdata and the reproduced secret information data coincide with eachother, said inhibiting means will inhibit the function of transferringto said displaying means side the user information reproduced by saidreproducing means.
 9. An optical card recording and reproducingapparatus according to claim 1 wherein said recording means and saidreproducing means are formed of an optical head provided with a lightbeam means for generating light beams, an optical system condensing saidlight beams and radiating them to said card-like recording medium and aphotodetector receiving through said optical system the light reflectedby said card-like recording medium.
 10. An optical card recording andreproducing apparatus according to claim 1 further comprising a modesetting controlling means operated by the first mode not receiving theinput secret information data which is input from said secretinformation data inputting means and the second mode receiving saidinput.
 11. An optical card recording and reproducing apparatus accordingto claim 10 wherein said mode setting controlling means will forciblyset said first mode unless a preset command is input.
 12. An opticalcard recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 11 whereinsaid mode setting controlling means will maintain said first mode stateuntil the power source of said recording and reproducing apparatus isswitched off in case it is set in said first mode.
 13. An optical cardrecording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 10 wherein saidmode setting controlling means will be set in said first mode notreceiving the input secret information data which is input from saidsecret information data imputing means unless a preset command is inputwithin a fixed time after the reproducing operation is started.
 14. Anoptical card recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 1wherein said recording means records said protecting information in eachsaid track.
 15. An optical card recording and reproducing apparatusaccording to claim 1 wherein said recording means records saidprotecting information in each said data sector dividing each saidlinear track.
 16. An optical card recording and reproducing apparatusaccording to claim 1 wherein said recording means can record protectinginformation different from each other in each said data sector.
 17. Anoptical card recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 16wherein said protecting information recorded in each said data sector isset by an operation rule using the discriminating information of saiddata sector.
 18. An optical card recording and reproducing apparatusaccording to claim 1 wherein said judging means and said inhibitingmeans are included in a CPU.
 19. A recording and reproducing apparatuscomprising:a recording medium having a plurality of tracks on which areformed respectively an ID part in which discriminating information isrecorded and a part which is discriminated by said discriminatinginformation and in which user information is recorded/reproduced; arecording means for recording protecting information including secretinformation data for inhibiting the reproduction of said userinformation except said protecting information recorded in each of aplurality of data sectors dividing the data part of said recordingmedium; a reproducing means for reproducing said user information andprotecting information recorded in said recording medium; a secretinformation data inputting means for inputting said secret informationdata; a judging means for judging whether or not the secret informationdata input by said secret information data inputting means and thesecret information data reproduced by said reproducing means coincidewith each other; and an inhibiting means inhibiting the function ofeither displaying or transferring the reproduced user informationreproduced by said reproducing means in case said judging means does notjudge that the reproduced secret information data and the input secretinformation data coincide with each other.